Lucy's Scary Movie Guide

Lucy’s my 8-year-old daughter, and on weekends we enjoy staying up late to watch horror films. This all started over a year ago when we watched Poltergeist together. Since then, on Friday or Saturday nights when everyone is winding down, Lucy (who’s always been a night owl) will inevitably come up to me and ask, “Hey, Dad, wanna watch a scary movie?”

How can I say no to that? So off we go each Friday night to my office containing my wall of DVDs. Like the film geek I am, I have them all organized according to genre, and Lucy knows exactly where the horror section is. But unless we pick something she’s already seen, I decide what she’s ready or not ready to watch. Stuff like The Exorcist, Hostel and Saw are still off-limits. My wife has also nixed stuff that kinda freaked her out, like The Ring and The Descent.


I can just hear parents reading this and complaining what I’m subjecting an 8-year-old to. Well, trust me, I know my own kid enough to make my own decision regarding what’s appropriate or inappropriate for her. Besides, Lucy knows herself well-enough, too. We got twenty minutes into The Mist before she looked over and informed me this was a movie she didn’t feel she was ready for.

Anyway, when I asked her to pick her ten favorites, she had a lot to choose from. Other than trying to remember a few titles, she had no trouble making her choices.

The following is a list of the Top 10 Scary Movies according to my daughter, Luciann Frances Anderson:

1. Insidious
This is the first one which caused her a few sleepless nights.

2. Zombieland
Lucy loves the scene where a zombie is taken-out by a car door.

3. The Omen (remake)
Lucy says, “You know...that one that has the devil’s son.”

4. Devil
Lucy says, “That elevator is scary.”

5. Poltergeist
The tree scared the crap out of her. So did the clown (and who can blame her?).

6. Shaun of the Dead
Like Finding Nemo and Spongebob Squarepants, this one never gets old to her.

7. Dawn of the Dead (remake)
Lucy says, “The zombie baby is scary.”

8. Ghost Ship
Lucy was happy to see that, at the end, all the freed souls were going to heaven.

9. Final Destination series
Unable to pick just one, Lucy says, “I like them all.”

10. Cube
I have no idea why she likes this. Maybe because she simply accepted the premise and didn’t care about why these people were trapped in the cube. If so, good for her.

Check out Lucy's own scary movie, The Doll, by clicking the poster!